An attractive left-handed batsman, John F Reid was a short but impressive career in Tests for New Zealand. His ODI career was also quite short and his returns were decent at best. A calm and composed character, John was a difficult batsman to dislodge once set and inevitable converted his starts to big knocks. The fact that six of his eight 50-plus scores in Tests were centuries is a testimony to this fact. In the 50-over format, he couldn't notch up a three-figure knock but had four fifties and was a useful batsman albeit not that good at upping the rate. He could rotate the strike fairly well though and that allowed him to contribute decently. John had a great passion for teaching and even considered it to be above his love for cricket. After his retirement, John did serve as an operations officer for New Zealand cricket.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan